Silence
by thraxbaby
Summary: GLaDOS uses silence against Chell.


"You can run, but you can't escape me."

Chell ran down a catwalk, led by a talkative blue-eyed robot. They just escaped from the testing tracks and were now running through Aperture, trying to find an exit. The pound of her longfall boots on the metal grating could be heard over the core's panicked babble and the mechanical hum of the facility. Her heart pumped hard from fear and the adrenaline vapor that pumped through the tracks. They were going to find a way out, no matter what. She skidded around a corner and almost toppled over when she saw the rest of the catwalk was missing. She searched for portalable surfaces, but found none.

"Down there!" Wheatley cried. Chell looked down and saw another catwalk below theirs. It was missing a piece, too, but if she dropped down on it just right, she would make it. Chell took a few steps backward, then ran to fling herself onto the lower catwalk. Halfway down, an excursion funnel caught her and moved her away from the catwalk.

"What? No! Lady, you're going the wrong way! Come back!" Wheatley called out to her from his management rail. She sent him a glare, which meant "As if I had a choice!" Chell looked down at the dark haze that seemed to envelop the facility. If GLaDOS wanted to, she could just turn off the excursion funnel and send Chell to her doom. At that height, even the longfall boots couldn't save her. Even if they could, there could be an acid pit or sharp objects below. Near the end of the funnel, a wall opened up, sending Chell into a pitch black room. Even the glow from the funnel couldn't illuminate anything to help Chell know where she was. Suddenly, the wall closed up, cutting off the funnel and dropping Chell into the darkness. She didn't fall for very long and found herself on something soft. Quick on her feet, Chell felt around for an exit. She found one wall covered in the same soft substance as the floor, then another wall and another and another. She was boxed in! A mechanical whirring sound could be heard and something plucked the Portal device from her hand. Chell tried to grab it again, but it was already out of her reach.

"You know, I was reading up on something." GLaDOS's voice rang out through the facility, causing Chell to go into defence mode. "No matter what I threw at you, you survived. Turrets, discouragement beams, even deadly neurotoxin couldn't stop you. Then I had an idea. Why should I have to kill you, when your own mind can do it for me. I hope you like silence. You're going to spend a long time in it." A mechanical whir was heard again as GLaDOS lowered the ceiling to the room. "Oh, and before I completely lock you in, just know that even the strongest test subjects could only stand 45 minutes in there. You'll be staying a week. Enjoy. You monster." The roof was lowered and locked into place.

Chell realized what GLaDOS meant by silence. Not even the constant hum of the facility could be heard. There was no sound whatsoever. Except maybe the slight ringing in her ears. And the gurgle of her stomach. And a dull roar in her head. Soon, she could hear a drumming sound and realized it was her heart beating. Her breaths sounded louder than usual. The silence was unnerving. It hasn't been even a minute and it was already getting to her. She sat against the wall and tapped her fingers against the longfall boots, trying to mimic an old song still in her memories. The tapping couldn't diminish the suffocating feeling the darkness and silence created, so she started counting. Each tap she made, she counted. 10, 20, 35, 46, 60, 79, 92, 116, 148... With the darkness, she felt confused. Her mind couldn't tell if her eyes were shut or not, so she tried to relieve it by squeezing her eyes shut. GLaDOS WILL NOT WIN! Chell told herself. The evil AI can't break me!

"Chell." Chell froze. The voice wasn't GLaDOS's voice. It had to be GLaDOS, though, right? She put a speaker in the room to mess with her. She must have. Chell thought of anything she could to take her mind off the silence. one plus one is two, two plus two is four, seven times three is twenty one, eight times eight is... sixty four, bananas taste good, apples taste better, T-E-N-A-C-I-T-Y... G-L-a-D-O-S is a huge B-I-T... "Chell?" The voice again. Ignore it, Chell! Ignore her. I-G-N-O-R-E. Llehc... SODaLG... Yeltaehw... Epacse... A hand grabbed Chell's arm. She jumped back and hid herself in the corner. Was there someone in there with her? Or was it another of GLaDOS's tricks? Chell squinted into the darkness. She was sure she could see a woman standing in the corner opposite her. The room was pitch black; she shouldn't be able to see anything!

"She's a liar." The woman's voice pierced the silence. Chell waved her hand as if the woman could see her, having no other means to communicate. Beside the woman, she saw a man's head floating materialize out of thin air. He had a bowler hat on and was faced toward the shadowy woman. He joined in and their conversastion took a terrifying turn. Their voices echoed loudly in her head, but no words could be understood. There was something about the man that seemed familiar, like she's seen him before. The darkness started to swirl around her and tiny bursts of light sparkled everywhere. It was like they were in space. Chell began to feel dizzy. Soon, she noticed something new. A skinny, gray-skinned creature on all fours was crouched in front of the conversing couple. Its eyes were hollow and its arms and legs ended in spikes, like a turret. It slowly crawled closer and closer. Chell was helpless against the thing. She had nothing to fight with, except her fists. She crouched into position and pounced at the thing, intending to punch it, but her whole body met nothing but the padded floor. The voices continued their conversation, but the creature was now looking down at her from the ceiling. She pulled off a longfall boot and chucked it at the creature. It bounced off the ceiling and landed on her stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

Chell rubbed her sore stomach and looked for the creature. It had gone away, but now a hundred bodies littered the room. Men, women, and children alike were dead and rotting all around her. She knew this scene. It's happened before, a long time ago. She felt very small and helpless. Her lungs burned. She was choking and calling out for someone, but she could no longer make any sound. She thought she saw the one she was looking for running into another room and followed. She stumbled along, dizzy and scared until she found the man she was trailing, only to find he was the wrong one. She wandered through an eerily empty hall, scared that she was alone. She couldn't stop coughing. Screaming could be heard upstairs. Scared, she ran away from the screaming and ended up in an empty office. She sat huddled in the corner, shaking and shivering and afraid she would die, too. Some time passed and the facility was silent. The door slowly opened and the starry, swirly darkness enveloped her again.

"I don't want her." Chell looked up at the woman, who once again spoke actual words. The shadow woman and the disembodied head were staring down at her with disgusted looks on their faces. "I don't want her." The man also said.

"Give her away." the woman ordered.

"Take her away." The man added.

"We don't want you." The woman said. They began to talk simultaneously, both saying different, yet similar things about not wanting Chell. Chell clamped her hands over her ears, trying to shut out their chanting, but it was no use. They were in her head. They were behind her. They were everywhere. Chell wished she had her voice so she could scream, to tell them to stop, but she couldn't. She tried, but all that came out was a rush of air. A roaring sound met her ears and a walking companion cube grabbed her ankles. Chell kicked and struggled, but it was no use. It had an iron grip on her. She allowed it to drag her shaking, panting form away.

GLaDOS watched the video feed with satisfaction. She checked the time stamp on the camera. 20:15:05. Chell lasted only twenty minutes in the Aperture Science Silence Test. Granted, a majority didn't last five minutes, but even the most tenacious of test subjects couldn't handle their own mind. She saved the feed for future viewings and logged out to meet the Party Escort Bot as it dragged a broken Chell into her chamber. Glass panels lowered around Chell as a safety precaution in case the lunatic decided to become violent. Chell just stayed there, panting and slightly disoriented.

"I wish I could have seen what you saw in there. I'd love to know what broke you." GLaDOS's voice cut through her hazy thoughts and gave her the sense to at least look up at the massive AI. "I really hoped the guilt of you having killed me was what made you break. Unfortunately, I can't read minds... yet." Chell started to catch her breath and sat up. "Now, I want you to get back to testing and we won't need to repeat this experience. If you even think of killing me again, you'll actually spend a week in there." Chell's portal gun was dropped before her, along with her missing longfall boot. The glass panes created a barrier between GLaDOS and Chell, but led to the elevator to take her back to the testing track. Chell reluctantly pulled on the boot, grabbed the portal gun and rested it on her shoulder as she walked to the elevator, still a bit shaky in the knees. She stared at GLaDOS as the doors closed and the AI noticed the distant look in the test subject's eyes. She ignored the odd feeling it gave her and relished in the fact that SHE WON. She, once again, had everything in control.


End file.
